Beginning of the Year in Kindergarten!

This was my post last year about this time.... not much has changed except I have 20 sweet Kinders this year!!!
Well my time this school year has definitely been spent having a great time getting to know my Kinders! I love Kindergarten! I started out teaching K and now I am hoping to stay with this grade until *****Retirement Time.*****

The best thing about Kindergarten is having 27 little darlings who absolutely LOVE their teacher. They hug me and tell me they love me constantly... even when I am asking them to move their color. The second best thing about Kindergarten is seeing students LEARN! You can actually see the progress day by day. How rewarding is that! Some people get their rewards making money, teachers get their rewards by knowing they are helping little people!

One thing we are doing every minute is Letter Recognition. This is a Standard:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1d Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Having fun with Letter Recognition is what my students love to do best. We play games, we use flash cards, we do all kinds of things. One of the best ways I have found to help students with letter recognition AND know their color names are my "Letter Recognition Practice - 8 Mystery Pictures To Color!"

My students love doing these. At the beginning of the year I gave these out, but I had to color in each 'crayon' for them so they would begin recognizing their colors. Now that 2 months have gone by, (well almost 2) I printed these out again and they have to look at the color words to figure out the colors.

There are 8 different pictures in this set and by this time most students had completed about 6 of them at various times during the month. They are great when someone finishes up their work or as morning work. I kept all of the completed pictures in their folders and had them pick their best work to put up!

Thanks for reading my Blog! 

If you have any questions about anything posted, please just let me know. My email is pamjmmes@gmail.com.

The Mystery Pictures are in my TPT store. . I have two sets, one is the Letter Recognition pictured here and the other is Sight Word Practice. Both are fun for students and they really do LEARN while having fun!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Practice-Mystery-Pictures-to-Color-Centers-Activities-K-1031695

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Letter-Recognition-8-Mystery-Pictures-to-Color-1031156#show-price-update

Thanks for reading!

Because... Singing it in Kindergarten!

Almost my entire class can spell because. That's 'because' we sing the Because Song daily. My Teacher Assistant sang this for my first Kinder class and I've been doing it each year since then. The pictures are from the first month of Kindergarten so many are just learning what the written word is and how they can write words to make sentences!

This is a quick video of my little learners singing this year!

We write 'college sentences' in our class. This is from Whole Brain Teaching. Since 'because' is such a long word, singing it helps my students write the sentence! I don't really like the clip art that Chris Biffle uses, but I love his strategies! They really work. Here is his book on Amazon if you haven't read it.

I use my smartboard to write because and have different children come up and point to each letter as we sing it. 

Thankfully, Herding Kats had a post about how to download youtube videos and save them. I was having a time trying to keep my videos organized. Now it will be as simple as saving them on a thumbdrive! 

I have this song included in my Sight Word packet. It is a great way to get all your students loving to write the word because!

I've Been Nominated for the Liebster Award!

Thanks for the Liebster Award!

I've been nominated by Jamie at Thrills in Third Grade for the Liebster Awards.

You may find yourself asking, "What in the world is the Liebster Award?" I know that's what I said!  It's pretty simple.  When a person is nominated for the Liebster Award, first they answer 11 questions about themselves.  Afterwards, they nominate 11 additional bloggers with fewer than 200 bloggers for the award.  It's like a chain award designed to help new bloggers* (see #1) become acquainted with the blogging world.  here are my answers to the 11 questions:

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging?
       About two years ago I started blogging. I wanted a place to talk about teaching and to connect with other teachers world-wide. I figured blogging was a good way to do this.

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
    I think my students are the heart of my blog. Everything I do is for them. I am always researching new strategies for teaching and implementing them into my daily lessons. I love my students and that is why I teach!

3. Is there something you learned late in your blog journey you wished you knew before?
    I am learning constantly. I am sometimes amazed that I can even get a blog up and going! I look at other blogs, ask questions, and then try it out. I will tell anyone to just jump in there and try it. You can always deleted your post if it doesn't turn out right.

4.  What is your favorite thing to do other than blogging?
      Knitting, being with my family, sitting on the beach and watching the ocean. I love to make new products for my students to try. I like puzzles, eating with my hubby, and my grandsons!

     5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?        Not many! This year I have been caught up with getting my Master's in ESL and trying to keep up at work with all the changes. Hoping to change this!

 6.  What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?       I love reading other blogs and looking at the pictures. Sometimes I won't have time to read the blog, but I will always go through and look at pictures! I like the crafty type teaching blogs. Those are always fun to look at and dream about making these things with my students if there was TiME!

     7.  Where does your blog inspiration come from?

        Definitely other bloggers and my students! My students accomplishments make me want to do more each day!

     8.  Which post that you've written are you most proud of?

         Probably the one on the dodecahedrons. That was the most colorful!

     9.  Is there any post you've been planning to do but have been postponing?

      Oh yeah! Many, many! I guess I should just start writing them and then go back and edit and add pictures later. Did I say I never have enough time!

     10. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

       Knowing that I am part of a huge group of teachers that want to connect! 

     11.  Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you most likely try yourself?

   Jamie I like your Currently blogs! I want to try this. I like to read about other bloggers and how they deal with everyday life!

The Rules:
Now that you've been nominated, here are the official rules for accepting:

1. In your post, link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and "shout out."

2. Answer the 11 questions I answered above.

3. Nominate 11 blogs that have fewer than 200 followers each.  Have them answer the questions above.

4.  Let your nominees know they've been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post, so that they can accept.

5. Send your nominator a link to your post so he/she can learn about you.

That's it! Have fun!

Here are the bloggers I am nominating!

Jodie at Sugar n' Spice!

Angela at A Special Kind of Place

Jenn from The Primary Pack

Min Ah Kang at Primary ESOL

Sherry at Dr. Clements' Kindergarten

Carla at Comprehension Connection

A New Post.... So Soon?

I really can't believe I am posting again since I usually wait a few weeks (or months!) to post.

Our school has started walks, where admin and other people walk through your classroom and make sure you are doing all that you are supposed to be doing??? Well using the Common Core Standards and I Can statements is huge. I am well trained on using CC standards and I Can statements since my last county required it from the beginning. Teaching 27 Kinders makes things a little tougher than having the usual 20 or so per class. I know many teachers are frustrated with large class sizes this year and we all know that being organized helps!

This little CCSS flip book made it easier for me.

You probably have a set already that you can make like this. Here is how I set mine up and what I do with it.

Since this picture I have 'straightened' up a tad and moved my rocking chair so I can utilize the board behind the chair. I keep my CCStandards that I printed out on a hook on my rocking chair. I made a nice bright cover for them so it can't be missed! I like to sit in my chair while I am having morning meeting. Before making this set,  I was having to get up and go to the board at the other end of the carpet, read and point to the I Can Statement and read the standard. Now I can sit in my chair and explain and read from my flipbook. I still show my Kinders where the I Can statement is, but that is while I am up at that board. I feel that they are understanding the connection now.

This is how page one prints out. There is a page number so I can make sure its always in order. The I Can statements are all there and also some academic vocabulary that I might want to talk to my students about before I start my lesson. There's so much to remember while also keeping my students engaged that this helps so much!

I used divider labels that you buy 8 to a pack to make sure I wouldn't waste time trying to find the standard I wanted. You could always type this, but I just used a Sharpie© to write mine. This is a good reminder for me since I still haven't memorized all the Reading headings yet. When I see them though I know what they are.

I used a large book ring from Staples and you can see in this picture how I used the page dividers. I also put some book tape on the back to make sure the dividers didn't come off even though they stick on. The large ring makes it easy for me to flip to the standard I want.

I use a post it note so that I can make sure I flip to the standard I am using for that day. Of course in reading, I always use more than one standard it seems so I have two post it notes here.

This is the cover I made for my set. I use this same yellow cardstock and type for all my headings in my class. This way it really shows up and it doesn't look so cluttered.

I know many people may not need all of this. With 27 little Kinders, as darling as they may be, things can get disorganized quickly if I do not have everything I need! This has really helped as admin has come into my room and they can see me going over the standards that we will be using in a quiet and meaningful way. Also, having the academic vocabulary right there helps me REMEMBER what I need to teach.

Hope this helps in some way. If you need an ELA Standards set for Kindergarten, mine is $3.00 in my TPT store. Please email me if you need a copy of cover I use. You can use whatever color cardstock, I just think this is easier for me to find.

Where Oh Where Does The Time Go?

This was my post last year about this time.... not much has changed except I have 20 sweet Kinders this year!!!
Well my time this school year has definitely been spent having a great time getting to know my Kinders! I love Kindergarten! I started out teaching K and now I am hoping to stay with this grade until *****Retirement Time.*****

The best thing about Kindergarten is having 27 little darlings who absolutely LOVE their teacher. They hug me and tell me they love me constantly... even when I am asking them to move their color. The second best thing about Kindergarten is seeing students LEARN! You can actually see the progress day by day. How rewarding is that! Some people get their rewards making money, teachers get their rewards by knowing they are helping little people!

One thing we are doing every minute is Letter Recognition. This is Common Core Standard:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1d Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Having fun with Letter Recognition is what my students love to do best. We play games, we use flash cards, we do all kinds of things. One of the best ways I have found to help students with letter recognition AND know their color names are my "Letter Recognition Practice - 8 Mystery Pictures To Color!"

My students love doing these. At the beginning of the year I gave these out, but I had to color in each 'crayon' for them. Now that 2 months have gone by, (well almost 2) I printed these out again and they have to look at the color words to figure out the colors.

There are 8 different pictures in this set and by this time most students had completed about 6 of them at various times during the month. They are great when someone finishes up their work or as morning work. I kept all of the completed pictures in their folders and had them pick their best work to put up!

Thanks for reading my Blog! I am still not too sure if I am doing this right, but it is fun showing my students their work online!

If you have any questions about anything posted, please just let me know. My email is pamjmmes@gmail.com.

The Mystery Pictures are in my TPT store. Right now the letter recognition set is only $3.00 for the download. I have two sets, one is the Letter Recognition pictured here and the other is Sight Word Practice ($4.00.) Both are fun for students and they really do LEARN while having fun!

Thanks for reading!